Review of Polling Districts and Polling Places 2019

We have been carrying out a review of polling districts and polling places. The deadline to give your views has now passed.

Background information

The review was carried out as a statutory requirement, according to Section 18C (1) of the Representation of the People Act 1983, as amended by Section 17 of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013.

The review had to be carried out during the 16 month period beginning 1 October 2013 and now has to be completed every fifth year after this.

The review relates to use of polling districts and places during a parliamentary election. It is carried out on a local government boundary basis, which is not necessarily co-terminus with the relevant parliamentary constituency. The Guildford Parliamentary Constituency covers part of the Waverley Borough Council area and these Waverley areas will be reviewed by Waverley Borough Council as part of their review process, consulting with the Returning Officer for the Guildford Constituency.

Background rules

As a local authority, we must:

ensure that all the electors in the constituency have such reasonable facilities for voting as are practicable in the circumstances.

ensure that so far as is reasonable and practicable, the polling places we are responsible for are accessible to all electors, including those who are disabled. When considering polling places, we must consider the accessibility needs of disabled people.

What we consulted on

We asked for:

feedback on any aspect of polling districts or polling places currently used

suggestions for alternative polling places within the Guildford Borough Council area.

comments on the proposed changes - see table below.

Any elector within the Guildford Borough Council area or the boundary of the Guildford Parliamentary Constituency was allowed to make a representation.

We also welcomed comments from any person or body with expertise in access for persons with any type of disability.

Maps

You can view maps showing the positions of the current polling places in the Downloads section of this page. The polling stations are shown by a blue dot and the proposed change is shown with a red square. Polling district maps are also available for inspection at the Electoral Services Office at the above address.

Polling district

A polling district is a geographical sub-division of an electoral area, such as a UK Parliamentary constituency, a European Parliamentary electoral region, a county electoral division, or a local authority ward.

Every relevant authority in the UK is responsible for dividing its area into polling districts for UK Parliamentary elections for so much of any constituency as is situated in its area, and for keeping the polling districts under review.

Wherever possible the polling districts for local government elections should mirror those agreed for parliamentary elections.

Polling place

A polling place is a geographical area in which a polling station is located. However, as there is no legal definition of a polling place, the 'area' could be as small as a particular building or the entire polling district. The polling place for a polling district should be within the area of the polling district unless special circumstances make it desirable or necessary to designate a place outside the polling district.

Polling station

A polling station is the actual area (room) where the voting takes place and must be located within the polling place designated for the particular polling district. You can have more than one polling station in a polling place.

The review is concerned about polling places, rather than polling stations.

What changes may be made by this review?

If there is a good reason, the polling district boundaries within any of the wards could be amended to reflect, for example, a population increase in a certain area. This was done in November 2014 when a new polling district was created to allow for another polling station within the Holy Trinity Ward.

Our Electoral Registration Officer must amend the electoral register to reflect any change in a polling district. To avoid confusion, it would be best to introduce any changes at the publication of the annual revised register on 1 December. As all changes have to be passed by the Council, the review is carried out in order that the changes can be considered in plenty of time ready to go to the Council meeting in October.

Parishes

Each parish in England must be in a separate polling district unless there are special circumstances.

Local ward boundaries

Local ward boundaries can only be altered by the Boundaries Commission during their periodic reviews.

After the review - next step

Having completed the review, we are expected to give reasons for decisions in respect of the designation of both polling districts and polling places and we will publish:

all correspondence sent to the Returning Officer in connection with the review

all correspondence sent to any person whom the authority thinks has particular expertise in relation to access to premises or facilities for persons who have different forms of disability

all representations made by any person in connection with the review

the minutes of any meetings held

details of the agreed designation of polling places and polling districts.